Check out this ‘3D Personal Work’ edit from our 3D team!
During the COVID-19 lockdown, our London 3D department stayed active by working on their own personal creative projects. Being away from the office and stuck at home, they found creative solace within the world of 3D.
The 3D edit features a huge range of work – from interesting character designs and cloth simulations, right through to clever procedural setups to generate custom environments, plus a keen interest in real-time sequences.
Bethan Williams
What was your Inspiration?
During lockdown, I came across Hanifa’s 3D Virtual Fashion Show on Instagram and wanted to create something similar. My goal was to learn Marvellous Designer and having additional free time provided a great opportunity to do so.
What software did you use?
Marvellous Designer & Maya
How have you stayed creative in lockdown?
During lockdown, I aimed to create small and realistic goals each week. To help me achieve this, I used social media platforms, such as Instagram and Pinterest to get inspiration. Some of my favourite Instagram accounts include GoPro, filtersBeauty, Behance & iliaswalchshofer. I also signed up to online courses, one of them being about SparkAR, which lead me to creating a variety of Instagram AR filters.
Renato Suetake
What was your Inspiration?
Whenever I do any personal 3D work, I always try to choose a subject in which I will learn from the process and hopefully improve my skills.
For the Salamander – I wanted to practice some creature work since that’s not something I regularly do, but I wanted to make something different that I don’t always see people posting or sharing around. That specific type of Salamander, the Axolotl, is a creature that always comes to my mind when I think of some different , so I decided to give it a try.
For the procedural balloon and Mos Eisley – I remember getting interested in procedural modelling when I first saw a VFX breakdown of a movie called “Attraction”. I’ve never really seen the movie itself, but just the breakdown showing buildings and a whole city built in a procedural way completely sold me the idea that procedural modelling can be really powerful if you know how to do it. Since then, I started studying and trying all sorts of complex structures, from single assets to bigger things, like cities.
What software did you use?
Salamander – Maya, Zbrush, Mari, Houdini and Arnold.
Balloon – Houdini and RenderMan.
Mos Eisley – Houdini and RenderMan.
How have you stayed creative in lockdown?
Although tempting to sit and watch TV in the evenings! – I have used the extra time at home to try out some new personal projects that I’ve had in mind.
Tatjana Ljubimtseva
What was your Inspiration?
The kitty concept belongs to Japanese artist @youmask. Besides, I was inspired by artists like Juan Carlos Montes (@moxstudios), Rahul Parihar (@doublegum_), Farid Ghanbari (@renderburger) as well as pages like @3dblendered and @motiongraphics_p that post similar kinds of design work. Despite the seeming simplicity of the style, I always found this cartoony look quite charming and appealing. I also like the idea of how the simplicity in the design and form might allow more room for details of the surrounding, shading, or other aspects.
What software did you use?
I used ZBrush for sculpting the main model, Maya – for making and shading jellybeans, it’s been used for lighting and rendering the image. Nuke was used for final colour correction and few extra grade tweaks.
How have you stayed creative in lockdown?
To stay inspired I have found it helps to expose myself to things that provoke my creativity. This involves reading books, chatting, sharing ideas with creative people, seeking out new experiences and travelling. Unfortunately, some of those became more challenging during the lockdown, so discovering artists Instagram pages has been a great alternative as well as having more time to read inspiring books, handcraft as well as practising traditional art and sketching. These methods were not only boosting my motivation but also became a great way to calm down and unwind, this was needed considering how frustrating the lockdown time could feel sometimes.
Rob Moore
What was your Inspiration?
The piece was based off a concept by Gerrit Willemse. I love his style of design, it’s a balance between great character and simplicity. I imagined the toad as a templar roaming the countryside.
What software did you use?
All character & prop modelling was Zbrush and textured in Substance Painter. The environment was megascans and rendered in Houdini with Arnold.
How have you stayed creative in lockdown?
Taking myself away from a screen in the evenings helped me to be more creative when on the computer. I was spending my time cooking and baking alongside staying active running and cycling lots at the weekend.
You can get in touch with our VFX teams to discuss any future projects here.
